For most employees, salaries are barely enough to make ends meet. Although there have been adjustments in the last year in monthly wages, inflation is running faster. And daily expenses, both ordinary and extraordinary, certainly don’t wait for payday.
The lack of coincidence between emergencies and salary crediting is pushing a growing number of Italian workers to seek financial flexibility solutions. Also because there is nothing worse than having to pay a late payment for an unexpected expense. But let’s go in order.
The salary advance as a lifesaver against arrears and debts
If it is difficult to make ends meet with the monthly salary, workers’ habits change. According to surveys by SumUp and Coverflex, over 40% of employees say they prefer an advance on the credit date. This instrument was given an English-speaking name: Earned Wage Accesswhich literally means access to salary already accrued.
The objective of those who request this form of flexibility is almost never the superfluous purchase, but a defense of the family’s income: to have the economic capacity to pay household bills, avoiding on the one hand the application of penalties for late payment and on the other the use of forms of micro-credit at expensive rates.
Stagnant wages for 6 out of 10 employees
The continuous need for liquidity is explained by the disheartening analysis that emerges from the 2026 Remuneration Report of Coverflex And Ipsos Doxa. On a sample of 1,000 employees in Italy:
- 60% of those interviewed declared an unchanged salary in the last two years of work;
- 33% of the sample obtained a promotion or salary increase;
- 17% receive an annual adjustment linked to the trend of inflation.
Therefore it is not surprising to discover that the indicator that measures the health of the pay ratio (Compensation Index) is stuck at a score of 35 out of 100. Less than one worker in three believes their compensation is aligned with the level of responsibility or market values.
In this scenario, even company benefits change their intended use: 83% of employees use meal vouchers to do their daily shopping, transforming welfare into a real income supplement, which goes beyond the simple reimbursement for the lunch break.
Salary transparency, this unknown
The third element of dissatisfaction that emerged from the Coverflex and Ipsos survey concerns the lack of clarity on salaries. 69% of workers believe that Italian companies are still not very transparent on the criteria that regulate compensation, seniority increases and career progression.
An information deficit that is also found on the ways in which European regulations are applied. Despite the entry into force of the EU Directive on Wage Transparency, 75% of employees say they have only heard of it in a generic way and just 21% actually know its impact and application details.
Yet, up to 83% of those interviewed, once made aware of the principles of the directive, declared themselves clearly in favor of the introduction of transparency on compensation as a fundamental tool for eliminating the pay gap and concretely understanding one’s salary position.
Does pay transparency help increase wages?
The regulatory text has introduced precise obligations for companies which, at least in theory, should have already radically changed the way in which workers access information on their earnings.
First of all, anyone applying for a job has every right to request and receive clear data not only on the expected salary range, but on the average salary levels of the company, divided by gender and by categories of employees who carry out the same role or a job of equal value. Essential information that allows you to understand whether the offer on the pay slip is in line with the sector’s collective bargaining agreement or with the treatment reserved for colleagues.
Furthermore, there cannot be any secrecy clause on the compensation: the indicative salary must be clearly expressed from the public job announcement. At the same time, companies are required to make the objective criteria used to determine salaries, increases and career promotions accessible to their staff.
